Memorial Day 2018

Posted on May 28, 2018

A little background for our readers who live outside the USA…

Back when I was a little kid, Memorial Day was called Decoration Day. In 1868, after the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans that was founded in Decatur, Illinois, established the day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.

By the 20th century, competing Union and Confederate holiday traditions, that were celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service.

The original national celebration of Decoration Day took place on May 30, 1868. When Memorial Day became a federal holiday, it was given the floating date of the last Monday in May for the sake of those three-day holidays that we so love.

The photograph at left was made in the unique town of Prospect, Colorado and was shot using a Lensbaby lens and, I think, captures a combination of the nostalgia of summertime in a small town that is quintessentially American.